THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3327, 19 December 1917, Page 55

THE WEEK.

What is one to say about Christmas in these, "times? Seeing that we can hardly wimr each other a "merry" Christmas with so much sorrow and suffering abroad in the, and seeing that peace and goodwill are an impossibility with so many nations at war, were it not better to let it all slide, and allow the season • to pass without notice? Well, I should be very sorry for us all if we really did so, for we should miss a part of the Christmas message that we need more. than ever just now—the message of hope that every new birth brings—or should bring—with it. Christmas reminds us that, though there is death in the. world, there is still life also, and that the children who are being born into the world to be the next generation are the hope of this. We look to them to build up what has now been destroyed, and we expect them to be better, wiser, and nobler than we are because of the lessons that humanity is learning now. But Christmas is not only the festival of childhood—it is the festival of motherhood also, since you cannot have one without the other; and just as we are realising more and more the importance of children in the scheme of things, so we are learning more and more to honour their mothers, and the war has .helped us to do both these things. I mentioned the warm welcome that was accorded to babies and their mothers at the Burns Hall all through "Baby Week," and lately I have seen other mothers honoured—mothers who had not their babies with them, for those same babies had grown up and donned khaki or navy blue, and, with rifle or ship's gun, bomb or bayonet, were fighting for their own lives and the lives of those who, were dear to them. It was a happy thought on the part of the Women's National Reserve to inaugurate these teas for th > mothers of soldiers and sailors. In the northern towns they have proved a great success, and the first one to he held in Dunedin, which took place a week or two ago. was no exception. Motherhood alone makes abond of unity between women, and to be mothers each of soldier sons makes a closer bond still. There was such an atmosphere of friendliness about the gathering, and a quiet pleasure that came not only from the entertainment provided, hue from the thought that someone had taken care to recognise the mother's part in war, and show appreciation of it. Beyond the mere fact that it means bearing and rearing children to carry on the race, the motherhood of women has its importance, because it sign of the essential difference between man and woman-—the difference between the destroyer and the builder-up. You know, men and women are much more alike in their qualities than many people suppose. A great many of the apparent differences between them are the artificial result of difference of training and environment and tradition, but investigation into the problem of sex. botli physiological and_ psychological, seems to show that the distinguishing difference between male and female is that the male organisation tends to be a katabolic, and the female anabolic. That is to sav, man is for ever breaking down —we have the same root in "cataract" and "cataclysm"—and woman for ever building ' uo," even as the mother builds up the bodv of her babe out of her very self. Man tends to be aggressive, restless, active: woman is more patient, stiller, more conservative. You understand that one can only employ these terms in a general sense." You will always find individuals who seem to contradict the theory, and both sexes possess each other's characteristic to some extent. But there it is all the same—in the main, man breaks down : woman preserves and builds up. See. then, what opportunities lie before us, O, we women! Just because we are conservative, because we have been so busy making new generations and tending those whom we 'oved, we have been, slow through all the ages to recognise our powers: but now we are awakening, and demanding that we shall havo nnr share in the making of the world. That same world has been ruled almost i entirclv bv men since humanity learnt to rule itFelf at all. and—well, look at if now ! Thev don't seem to hays made a # huge success of it. do thev? It seems time that we lent a hand, time to turn our natural qualities to account on a larger scale than ever before, and to remember that we am.the builders-up of the rare. They sav that .women are una hie. to take large views of a matter: that they cannot {ret awav from small and personal iwnes. I do not think that is true, except in so far as it is made so bv circumstances. I mean that if a woman's life i« concerned alwavs with the small—though in their own way. important--of her own family circle she will find it difficult, if called nnon < all of a sudden to take a verv much wider view of things: but it is only that she is out of practice. The ability to think widely mav be there, but it lias never been

used. In the same way, because every human being has come into the world through some woman's suffering, and that which has been suffered for is very precious, the majority of women will tend to think of humanity as separate individuals, not as a vague mass. Well, that is not a bad way to think of it either, and it does not -prevent women fiom being able to sacrifice the individual to an ideal, if need be, as the courage and faith of many a woman has shown in this war alone. Oh, there is much for us to do, and much work ahead of as, not only for those who are, or will be, mothers, but for those who now will never be, since these last have, at any rate, the gift of womanhood, and may turn it to account in other ways if they will. Let us remember this, and cheer ourselves on our way by this new Christmas message—that the hope of the world is to be found not only in its children, but in its women, for the future. ELIZABETH.